Dear Jenna
by Honeeym
Summary: Stefan wants to be left alone. Jenna wants to be told the truth. Damon wants to be listened to. Oh, and ... Katherine wants revenge. Set after 2x05 "Memory Lane" and the fake Stefan/Elena breakup. A/N : NO Damon-Jenna Romance !
1. Family Ties

**Hello everyone ! After I got such an enthusiastic responses with "In The Eyes of His Beloved", it decided it was time for me to offer you something longer, deeper about the one and only Damon Salvatore. **

**This idea came to me because I was thinking about that episode in Season One when Damon reads Stefan diary and makes fun of his brother. Then I remembered a scene when he was surrounded by sorority girls he had compelled. I also wanted to make Jenna the main female character (but NO romance!) because we don't see enough of her and I think it's unfair that she should not know about vampires. **

**Anyway, this is set right after 2x05 " Memory Lane", after the fake breakup. ****Please don't be too harsh on me for grammar and stuff like that, I am no native speaker. ****I chose to name my "chapters" after actual episodes of the show, so this one is 1x04. **

**Review, people !**

**- M. - **

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_Family Ties_

Stefan Salvatore was sick and tired of always being worried about his brother's whereabouts. Even since he had got back to Mystic Falls, Damon had only been a cause of trouble. He was stubborn and impulsive. He had given another evidence of that when he attacked Mason Lockwood. Like they didn't have enough problems already. His days were long and painful enough without him having to pay attention to Damon's actions. But when he heard his brother's light steps in the stairs, Stefan couldn't help calling out for him.

"_Aren't you ever going to change, Damon?"_

"_When I'm so close to perfection? You're kidding."_

"_Of course this is all a game to you. Do you have any idea of what you've just done?"_

"_Well, I didn't actually do anything, Stefan. The wolf is still running around. I need a drink. Or a dozen!"_

Damon deliberately ignored his brother's exasperated face and headed to the bar. He pretended to think before he grabbed a bottle of tequila. There was nothing like the soft burning of alcohol down his throat to raise his spirits. He willingly drew out ten little glasses and filled them all. Still silently, he went to the kitchen to cut ten zests of leman and came back whistling. He raised an eyebrow in Stefan's direction as an invitation. As he thought it was one way like another to make Damon take down the defenses he worked so hard to raise between his and the rest of the world, Stefan joined him.

For a long while, they sat there, getting the measure of each other. Then, in sync, they swallowed the ten shots in vampire speed. As Damon was done with his, he took one from Stefan and burst out laughing when he saw his brother's crestfallen face.

"_Logical consequence of your stupid abstinence, brother!"_

"_You're cheating, Damon. It's not even funny to play with you!"_

"_Oh, don't pout, Stef."_

Damon prepared another round in the blink of an eye. He gave the "ready, set, go" and gulped down four glasses without blinking. A millisecond later, when he should have drunk the fifth, he folded his arms across his chest and smirked his best smirk at Stefan. His brother smiled, took the offense and drank the sixth glass.

"_Fine. Now that we have shared such an intense brotherly moment, I am going to…"_

" _Are you…running away, Damon?"_

"_Excuse me?"_

"_We are level and you are running away! Typical, brother."_

Damon made a face. Stefan wasn't one to drink shots of tequila just for fun. So he wanted something. And obviously he wanted to talk. Again and again. People around him had this annoying tendency to babble about everything. He was more of an action man himself. And his instinct told him to avoid his brother and his welcoming manners. But he sat back and let out a bottle of bourbon, the one he only pulled out for special occasions.

"_Oh, you're too good to me, brother. This is excellent whiskey," Stefan said knowingly._

"_I am the one who taught you how to drink, don't give me that superior look._

"_I thought I was gonna die the first time I drank alcohol."_

"_No, I thought I was gonna die. Of laughter, no need to mention."_

"_I still don't understand why you got me drinking when I was only 13."_

The atmosphere seemed to chill out a bit but Damon saw this as an opportunity to tease his brother. Until then, he had never found a better cure for being upset than upsetting someone else. So he put up his emotional walls and his face was expressionless when he muttered "I have always been irresponsible, haven't I, Stefan?" His brother started murmuring an apology, Damon burst out laughing again. "That's just so easy!" Then he went back to being serious.

"_Let's be serious for a minute, ok? What's your angle, Stefan?"_

"_I'm having a nice time with you, brother"_

"_Stop finishing your sentences with 'brother', it's getting me uncomfortable. What is it that you want, uh? Alcohol, football and secrets sharing to nurse your broken heart, is it?_

Stefan didn't react. What broken heart? Then, he remembered. Damon was sitting at the bar when he had faked that fight with Elena. He wondered whether he's better confess to Damon and immediately mentally hit himself for contemplating it. If Damon knew, he would enjoy threatening them. Perpetually. Yes, he could picture Damon taking advantage of the situation to get closer to Elena, who of course wouldn't be able to turn him down without giving away their little secret. Confessing to Damon was absolutely out of the question. Bright side of it, a bad break up would help Stefan to have his way. He focused for a second and frowned with a sight.

"_I don't want to talk about it."_

"_Oh, that's a shame, I thought you were in a chatty mood! If only…"_

"_I mean it, Damon," Stefan's voice was threatening. _

"_Of course you do. Do you want me to get your diary?"_

Damon made a face at this brother and started pacing around their living-room. He looked around him carefully as if he were thinking hard. Then, he started mumbling. After a few minutes of this act, he seemed happy with himself and turned to Stefan. He gestured so as to say "Open the quotation marks" and frowned to mimic his brother. Finally, he changed his voice and chanted:

" '_Dear diary, _

_My day was horrible. Katherine showed up at the boarding house so I had to give up on Jenna's barbecue. I missed Elena so much! I'm going to miss her even more now, we just broke up. Diary, my soul is so crushed that I wish I could die. Shakespeare would have understood me but I'm stuck with Damon instead. He is so insensitive! He doesn't even react when I try to play nice with him. I'm such a bad actor, I know that, but he could make a move! I will have my way with him, one day._

_Stefan._

_PS: I am proud to tell you that I've spent 29000 days without drinking a single drop of human blood. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to pick up my coin at the Anonymous Vegetarian Vampires. I will pick it up tomorrow.' "_

Very pleased with his performance, Damon took a bow and waited for a reaction. Stefan gave him a cynical smile but he had an idea.

"_Contrary to you, I don't see the point in writing my emotions in some dusty book that nobody will ever read."_

"_I really think you should journal, Damon."_

"_Why could I possibly write?"_

"_Oh, I don't know. Maybe your feelings for Katherine. Or…better, your feelings for Elena."_

"_Why do you always have to ruin it, little brother?"_

Before he had time to blink, Damon had left the room so fast that Stefan hadn't even seen him. No, he really had no time to worry about his brother's whereabouts. But someone had to, before Damon got more hurt.


	2. Let The Right One In

**Hey there ! Second chapter. I can see that a lot of you have been reading this; it makes me really happy ! **

**This is the second chapter, named after episode 1x17. **

**Show me the love !**

**- M. - **

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_Let The Right One In_

Damon Salvatore did not belong to this under category of people who surrendered at the first obstacle. He was determined; some would say strong-minded, maybe stubborn. But, lately, and especially since he had had this conversation with his brother, the idea of jumping into his car and drive to the other half of the world would not leave his mind. There was more than just one reason to that. To be honest, he didn't know how to rank those reasons anymore… Elena, Stefan, Katherine. More possibilities than Damon could handle right now. He needed to get away from all this; he needed to take a break. The failure of his "Kill the werewolf" master plan had triggered the urge.

He was all packed and ready to go when he had seen Elena's car parked in front of the Grill. He wanted to say goodbye. So he went in and headed to the bar. He caught a look around and understood that the one he was looking for was not here. Jenna must have had borrowed her car. Fighting his disappointment, Damon turned around. But he froze when he heard Elena's aunt say his name. Of course, he shouldn't have been able to hear her conversation from so far away but it was one of the bright sides of being a vampire. He sat in a corner where he couldn't be seen and focused.

Jenna Sommers had not been an adult for a long time. Grayson and Miranda Gilbert's death had forced her to dive into a live that wasn't made for her. Instead of worrying about completing her thesis like people her age would, she was dealing with two un-ordinary teenagers that she didn't know a lot about. She was missing a whole side of Elena and Jeremy. She was surrounded with things that she couldn't imagine and the day she would realize that – because she would – she would hurt from the lies and the things that were left unsaid.

Even if she didn't like him at all, Damon felt some kind of affection for Jenna. Just like her niece, she wasn't easily scared and despite the fact that everyone in Mystic Falls feared him, she never went easy on him. He smiled a little as he remembered every harsh word she told him lately. At first, she thought he was very handsome, of course. Mysterious, maybe. Everything had changed the night she had caught him kissing Elena – _Katherine - _on the porch. Ever since, she represented a real challenge and he did not dislike it.

She was sitting with Rick and when she should have been tossing her hair and fluttering her eyelashes at him, the wrinkles on her forehead clearly showed that she was in no mood for flirting. She was worried. "_She is keeping something from me, Rick. It has to be about Damon and the kiss." _Damon laughed at the embarrassment of his new friend Alaric Saltzman, History Teacher. He knew too, so he had to lie too. Of course Elena was keeping things about him, like this time when he had non-accidentally broke Jeremy's neck to turn him into a vampire. "_Elena and Damon spend their time fighting for nothing. They are kids, Jenna!" _Damon rolled his eyes. Rick was a terrible liar. He would have to mention it one of those days. "_She is in love with Stefan. Damon is __**not**__ her style. You know that, don't you?" "I know her. That kiss means something to her." _Hearing the way he spoke, Damon deduced that Rick had noticed him. It changed his plans because he didn't have time to think anymore, now. He had to act quickly. Smiling his most polite smile, he headed to Rick and Jenna's table.

Ever since he transitioned, his memory had adapted to his vampire nature; images, sounds and smells endlessly took place in his mind. He had become a super powerful USB device. And when he browsed through the files he had been keeping for 170 years, he saw only one thing. Before, Damon Salvatore had just one law, a very simple one: what Damon wanted, Damon took. He had abided by this law for decades and the world was just a large playfield to him. And a gigantic fast-food restaurant.

Now that he was back in Mystic Falls, he embarrassed himself with principles. This idea made him sick to his stomach. He didn't recognize himself. What had become of the Big Bad Damon, the "self-serving psychopath" as Elena called him? _It's about he does a little cameo_, he thought, very pleased. When they had realized their little break up act wasn't fooling anyone, the lovebirds gave up on it and had planned to get out of town for three days. They evoked some absolute necessity to get away from Katherine, Bonnie, Caroline and all that. It couldn't have been better. Damon would take advantage of these three days, without hesitation.

He entered the Gilbert house through the window of Elena's bedroom. He closed his eyes. Last time he had come here…there had been an excruciating pain inside of him. There had been his very high blood alcohol content. There had been Elena's intoxication scent, her lips on his… There had been those words that had broken his dead heart. Damon focused. Using his super developed senses, he picked up Jeremy's peaceful breathing in a neighboring room. He also noticed the scratch of a pencil on paper. It exasperated Damon. _What's with those people and journaling, anyway?_

Moving in super speed, he got into Jenna's bedroom. The young woman was agitated in her sleep. Bonding with his bad mannered self, Damon sat on the bed and entered her mind. He couldn't see anything clearly but it did seem like she was running from someone or something. _Just perfect_. Damon threw his arms around this imaginary Jenna and hugged her. She had a pretty strong psyche; he had to power to be there and act as je please but he couldn't influence her. _Vervain, of course_. He was so eager to be the bad guy again that he took no preliminary precaution. Now he had to not be in control of his prey's dream.

Jenna pushed him away and put up a struggle. After a couple of failed attempts, he managed to calm her down. She let him and the setting went more and more clear. To be honest, she was running from some memories. He appeared in most of them. Not on his best profile, that is. It was inevitable that she would ask herself questions about her acquaintances' strange behavior; and he had to admit that he was often involved in these situations. He got out of Jenna's dream and carefully examined the sleeping silhouette. He caught a t-shirt and very carefully took her vervain bracelet away from her left wrist. He smelled the acid scent of vervain on it. _There you are, little piece of crap_. He put the bracelet in his pocket and entered Jenna's mind again. It took him less than five minutes to reach his goal: giving Jenna an irresistible urge to stay at the boarding house for three days, to come and ask him every question the others refused to answer. He left her free to come up with an excuse for Rick and Jeremy. This was going to be much simpler than he had planned. She needed answers, he had some to give. He needed someone to listen, and he could easily make her agreeable.

With the pleasant feeling of having completed his duty, Damon kissed her forehead and whispered "Dear Jenna, I can't wait to start confiding in you."


	3. Fool Me Once

**Specials thanks to the reviewers, your comments really mean a lot to me. **

**So after Damon's compulsion, Jenna shows up at the boarding house. This chapter was named after 1x14 ! **

**Tell me what you think !**

**- M. - **

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_Fool Me Once_

Damon was sipping a glass of wine when he heard Jenna knock on the door. He wasn't expecting her so soon but he had apparently underestimated her need for truth. He took his time to open the door, adjusting the collar of his shirt. He was aware that it was a stupid gesture but he liked to put a little seduction in his every interaction with women, no matter who they were. Even more when said woman thought he was "ridiculously hot". He had barely opened the door when the red-head stormed into the house with a little bag.

"_I have three days, Damon. Three long days and three long nights during which you are going to tell me absolutely everything I need to know. I won't leave until…"_

"_Anything, Jenna. I'll get your stuff."_

He made the decision to reveal his nature. When he grabbed her bag and climbed up the stairs, it was at super speed. Jenna almost chocked; she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her senses must have been deceiving her. She had not had enough sleep, or she was still sleeping. When he got back – a split _second_ later – she wanted to run but at the same time, she felt some morbid fascination. He tilted his head and waited for her to scream, cry or run away.

"_Have we met, Clark Kent?" she asked, amazed._

"_Oh, I am not as decent company as Clark Kent. Are you scared?"_

"_I want answers, Damon."_

Damon smiled his most beautiful smile at her before revealing his vampire face. Jenna did expect something extraordinary but she was really shocked when she saw dark veins filled with blood around his eyes. Those eyes were of a supernatural red and when he parted his lips with a low growl, Jenna gulped with surprise. Fangs. He had fangs. She took a few steps back and he contemplated saying a few comforting words to her. But then, he laughed a little when he saw she had grabbed a poker from the fireplace. He tapped his stomach and opened his arms, so as to offer himself to her. Then he did his best to remain expressionless when she stabbed him hard as she could. She wasn't as strong as she thought she was. When she realized she was stabbing actual flesh, she almost turned crazy.

"_You plan to make me believe that you're a vampire?"_

"_Do I scare you?"_

"_I don't think so. But it makes sense… Does it hurt?"_

"_What is it with you Gilbert girls asking me that question?"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_I took an arrow in the back to protect your niece, lately. Now, if you will…"_

He gestured towards the poker that was still in his stomach. Jenna gritted her teeth and pulled it out, making Damon groan with pain. In spite of her firm gesture, the wound was not deep at all; when she had noticed she was stabbing actual flesh, she had stopped. He unbuttoned his shirt so that she could see him healing instantly. She stood there, dreamingly. Damon was really happy that the events turned out this way. She made it very easy for him, reacting that way. She had instinct, she did not hesitate. She was direct and he liked that about her. He wouldn't have to compel her again.

Jenna felt like she was growing wings. Damon Salvatore, a vampire? She had read enough books and seen enough movies to know what that meant. But she was sensible enough to keep her criticism. As a psychology major, she had been taught to confront theory and facts. So she went to the bar and poured herself a drink, the same wine Damon was sipping before she got there. Then she took off her shoes and sat on the couch, just as if she were home.

"_You have some serious explaining to do, Edward Cullen."_

A familiarity was just settling between them. It generally took years of bonding to get there. Damon laughed heartedly and took his drink to join her.

_"Enough of the stupid nicknames."_

_"I'm not here to waste my time, Damon. Spit it out."_

_"Three easy steps: Katherine, Elena, Stefan. Hold on tight, beautiful!"_

A few hours later, they had ordered sushi to feed Jenna and Damon was enjoying a glass of hot blood. It had both grossed out Jenna and fascinated her and her reaction had amused the vampire. The last time he had willingly revealed his secret to a mortal girl, he had had to compel her over and over for days to erase the trauma. It took Jenna less than an hour to understand the rules of the vampire world and she wouldn't stop asking questions now. Damon was under the unpleasant yet funny impression that he was becoming some sort of science project to her. But he could be fine with that. It was shallow but it did good to his ego to be the center of such attention. He quickly came off his pedestal.

"_So, this Katherine girl. She's your girlfriend?"_

"_It's a lot more complicated."_

"_Summarize."_

"_Ex-girlfriend. She can be called a lot of things, to be honest. Love of my life. Sire. Ex-love of my undead life. Current big problem. Dear Jenna, you just signed up for the memoirs of Damon Salvatore. Chapter One: Katherine Pierce. This woman changed my life."_

Damon finished his drink and poured himself another one that he swallowed just as fast. He could read impatience on Jenna's face. He took a deep breath, licked his lips and began to tell his story.

Yes, Katherine Pierce had changed his life. She had made him the "man" he was today. He remembered every second they had spent together. He could still feel the butterflies there were in his stomach whenever she entered a room or laid eyes on him or smiled. He had always known that Stefan had a huge crush on her but she had given him a chance. And Damon Salvatore was no man to let such an opportunity go to waste. So he had courted her, as it was in use back then. She had taken his arm to walk through the woods, they had admired starry nights together long after Stefan had gone to sleep. It was as easy as breathing between the two of them. When he was with Katherine, Damon was himself.

"_You knew she was also with Stefan?" Jenna asked with a genuinely disgusted face. _

"_What I felt for her was stronger than my love for him. It was stronger than everything. The Confederacy, my father…I didn't care about any of it."_

"_And did he know?"_

"_She manipulated him, she compelled him to make him forget."_

But there had always been something more. Even when she was laughing out loud, Katherine was surrounded by a bizarre aura. Both scary and fascinating. When she had confessed her little secret, he had been afraid. 146 years later, he couldn't remember a time when he had been more scared. She had vamped in front of him and after coming to his senses, he had offered her his neck as proof that he would love everything about her, supernatural as this 'everything' might be. As proof that he loved her more than Stefan ever could, blinded as he was with his principles and his romantic ideals. As he reminisced, Damon had a bitter laugh.

"_I was so naïve back then! She dazzled me. She could do whatever she liked with me, and she sure did."_

"_What happened next?"_

"_Oh, not much. The Founders Council burned down all the vampires. Once Stefan and I woke up, we thought she had died with them. I wanted to let myself die but he made me complete my transition. I spent the next 145 years trying to figure out a way to bring her back and tormenting my brother."_

"_You're such a pain in the ass! Did you bring her back?"_

"_She didn't burn in that church. She escaped. And now, she's back."_

Jenna sure noticed the emotion in her new friend's voice. He had given up on his life to be with this Katherine girl forever. But ever since he had come back to Mystic Falls, none of it made sense anymore. If Jenna had to pick up one word to describe her, she would pick "bitch". What other term could suit a woman who spends 145 years making fun of a man in love? 145 years of doubt, of waiting, of longing.

"_Are you still in love with her?" she asked softly, afraid he might overreact. _

"_I want her dead, Jenna."_

"_So why isn't she?"_

_Because she's my Sire_, Damon thought bitterly. The vampire who turned a human was commonly called "Sire". A particularly intense relationship united these two people; they were related by blood like a parent and a child. Damon was a part of Katherine and she was a part of him. The "vampire community" had few laws, but hurting one's Sire was against all of them. Hurting one's Sire hurt the vampire itself. Of course, Damon Salvatore didn't give a damn about the law or about hurting. But he still felt that connection between the two of them.

Jenna seemed to reach a higher degree of admiration. She asked him about what this relationship implied. He got back to being the science project and patiently explained what she wanted to know. A vampire and its Sire remained linked for eternity, whatever they meant to each other when the victim was still human. In his case, this relationship had been more than special.

Damon could still remember the first time Katherine had bitten him. He had joined her in her bedroom long after curfew. He hadn't felt pain, because he hadn't felt fear. He had felt the heat of her lips, the millisecond of pain when the fangs had ripped the skin and then…he had abandoned himself to her, more intimately than he had ever done it with any other women before. He had closed his eyes and felt his life force leave him with each gulp she took. He had held on tight to her with shaking hands, mesmerized by the mere idea of giving her the essence of his life. Jenna cleared her throat.

"_Being a womanizer was not at all in fashion back then so I only had one or two points of comparison but she was the first to make me…"_

"_Psychology major here, Damon. We have to study mythology. I know what a turning someone into a vampire implies so if you could just spare me the details…"_

"_No, you don't know at all. These were the most erotic moments of my life. And I do know what I'm talking about. When they are of a different gender, a human and their Sire have a stronger chemistry than a mortal could ever imagine."_

"_That's why you were so jealous of Stefan." _

When he heard his brother's name, Damon gritted his teeth.

"_When she came back…I asked if she loved me," he whispered, letting down his guard for the first time. _

"_And?" she encouraged him._

"_She said 'I never loved you. It was always Stefan.'"_

As the conversation seemed to last, Damon and Jenna had headed to his bedroom to make themselves comfortable. When they had settled down, Damon and Stefan had chosen bedrooms in different parts of the boarding house. His bedroom was his den, his fortress of solitude. He sheltered there whenever he wanted to shut the world out and it was really efficient. He had never invited anyone in his bedroom before. If he was to show his vulnerability, he might as well show it honestly.

He never stopped telling about his memories with Katherine, voicing for the first time his thoughts, his wounds and his regrets. Jenna took in every word, every look on his face, and every intonation of his voice. She was discovering a side of Damon Salvatore that she hadn't been suspecting, his vampire nature aside. Behind the mask lied a sensitive and misunderstood person. When she whispered that to him before she fell asleep, he mocked her and laughed.

"_You say that because you pity me."_

"_I say that because I mean it. And I don't pity you, I understand you."_

"_You can't understand."_

Jenna hesitated and put her hand on Damon's, which was lying on his chest. He accepted the tender gesture and did something he hadn't done in decades: he let her comfort him. Katherine's words echoed in his head all the time since she had said them. _"It was always Stefan." _Damon had loved Katherine Pierce with all the ardour of his humanity. For nothing.

He got lost in his thoughts for a moment but when he got back to his senses, Damon was surprised to find Jenna in his arms. To be more specific, he was surprise to find her arms around him and her red curls on his shoulder. Once again, he laughed. He wasn't sarcastic this time. He was amazed. He didn't quite know how he had got here, but there wasn't anywhere else in the world he'd rather be. He couldn't remember the last time a woman had fallen asleep in his bed without any "romantic" implications. It felt pretty nice: no ulterior motives, no great expectations, no disappointments.

He closed his eyes with a content sigh. At this very moment, Jenna Sommers became the most important person in the world to Damon Salvatore.


	4. Under Control

**Hi everyone ! So, there we go with the fourth chapter...Only 2 more to come !**

**This chapter is named after 1x18. **

**I also forgot to mention it before, but if you people can read this without any huge mistakes, it's thanks to the one and only VictoriaJoan. Thank you so much. **

**As usual, reviews are love. They are welcome and very much appreciated.**

**- M. - **

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_Under Control_

When he woke up the next day, he was alone. Confused, he called on his internal memory device to re-activate his memories from the preceding night. His headache told him he had had too much to drink and he had mixed alcohols too much. _Some hemoglobin should get me rid of it just fine._ In the "Jenna" file, he remembered the sweet eyes she laid on him when she listened to his secrets, the tenderness in her gestures, the understanding in her words. Where was she? He focused on the noises in the house and was relieved when he picked up a light heartbeat in the kitchen. He often forgot to fill the fridge. Well, the one with _human_ food in it. He prayed not to have forgotten this time while he got dressed and rushed down the stairs.

There she was. Damon was surprised because he had been so busy going on the day before that he hadn't even bothered to compel the young woman. So she remembered his little secret, she remembered the people he had slaughtered, she remembered Katherine. And there she was.

"_Hey there, Lestat!"_

"_Have we met? I'm Damon Salvatore."_

She hugged him for a second – which was very unexpected – and gave him a mug coming directly from the microwave. He was guessing coffee but his senses told him he would like what was really inside the mug much better than coffee.

"_You really need to stop this."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_You shouldn't be here. You should be locked inside your house and you should be terrified."_

"_You have been invited in, Damon. Whether I'm here or there, you will find me. Plus, if you wanted to hurt me, I'd be dead by now."_

Using his extraordinary abilities and triggered by the smell of the blood, Damon closed his hand on Jenna's throat and within a second, she could feel her back violently hit the closest wall. There was nothing sensitive or misunderstood about him anymore. He looked like an animal. Even though he had shown her his vampire face the day before, she was staring. Damon could smell fear, but not enough of it. Her heart only beat a little faster than one second before. Jenna raised her hands and laid them on the vampire's cheeks. He frowned when he realized that she wasn't going to push him away. Instead, she intended to experience his face in a more sensory manner. She tried to remember the outline of every vein and spoke with difficulty.

"_Don't do this, Damon. Please."_

"_Don't do what?" he growled, satisfied that she finally behaved like a victim. _

"_You're pushing me away because you're having second thoughts about yesterday. Doesn't work with me, Salvatore."_

"_Are you all this stubborn in the family?"_

"_They learned from the best."_

Damon gave up; he was helpless. He drank the mug of blood. The thick liquid slid down his throat and painted its walls with a tasty veil. He felt immediately stronger. Jenna sat at the bar and drank her coffee. _I had thought about it, after all! _Damon congratulated himself when he saw her devouring a muffin. Then, out of nowhere, she said:

_"Speaking of family. Do you have things to tell me about Elena?"_

* * *

Damon was holding a photo that had to be decades old. Jenna was getting impatient: ever since she had mentioned Elena, he had put up his walls again, letting her know that the pain inflicted by her niece was even stronger than the one inflicted by Katherine. This was no good.

_"What is this antique you don't wanna let go of?"_

_"Dear Jenna…let me introduce Katherine."_

When she saw the picture, Jenna felt dizzy. For the first time since she had got here, her face was distorted with a paralyzing fear. It took her several minutes to recover and Damon regretted his little melodramatic act. He got her a glass of water and stayed beside her until her breath came out almost steady. He wanted to laugh out loud when she looked daggers at him and yelled:

"_Elena's doppelganger? Are you kidding me?"_

"_I was as surprised as you are."_

"_So what? You figured that you could get even with Stefan by seducing Elena like you had with Katherine? You..."_

"_Now, now. Let's not say some very mean things that we would regret, right Jenna? You're really sexy when you get upset," he chanted with a charming voice._

"_I want an explanation. This instant, Damon!"_

"_Fine, fine!" he laughed as she threw a pillow at him, then two, then three. _

He let her take it out on him for a moment and then he caught her wrists and made her sit in her « usual » spot. Jenna saw Damon's jaw clench once more, so hard that she was afraid he would break his teeth with his supernatural strength. He took a deep breath, licked his lips, and began to tell his story.

When he had seen Elena for the first time, he had felt familiar butterflies wake up in his stomach. He still couldn't explain the resemblance between these two women but Elena had exercised a very strong attraction to him from the first second. Just like gravity. She had made him remember that inside of him, he had all this side he had buried so long ago; the side he saved only for Katherine. The side who genuinely smiled, who didn't always have ulterior motives and who simply enjoyed the moment.

"_So you guys don't use her as a replacement for Katherine?"_

"_That would be creepy, even for vampires, don't you think?"_

"_Can you really tell who is who just by looking at them?"_

Jenna immediately wanted to take it back. Damon threw the glass he was holding across the room. He faced her, so as to apologize for this angry gesture and carried on with his story. At the beginning, he had wanted to kill her. She had Katherine's face, Katherine's body. He had thought that if he hurt her, he would finally have revenge. So he would spend a lot of time imagining the endless torture he could have put her through, and it had eased the pain. But at that time, he was still whipped; he loved Katherine more than he was angry with her. So sometimes, he would imagine starting the story he had left with Katherine, with Elena. Then finally, he had decide to get to know the young human and everything had changed.

He had never wished her dead ever since. Even when she and Stefan had betrayed his trust and found the grimoire before he did, even when she was the only obstacle between him and Katherine; he had threatened to turn her, not to kill her. He would never have done something like that. At that point, he had realized that he needed Elena in his life, whatever the reason for that could be.

"_So you're in love with her." Jenna asked without asking. "What a surprising news."_

"_I don't know, Jenna. On Founders' Day, the fire was not accidental, you know. John tried to take down all the vampires in this town. Guess who was on top of the list?"_

"_Oh my God, Damon. How did you make it?"_

"_Bonnie and her witchy juju."_

"_I beg your pardon?" Jenna yelled. _

"_It was her fault if John could get to us in the first place, so the least she could do was fix her mess. Oh yeah, the Bennett girl is a witch. A real pain in the ass too, if you ask me. But we're digressing."_

Elena had earned his trust and gained his affection. He didn't even know it himself before that bitch Isobel outted him. But he had been positive about it since Founder's Day. Because when he was caught in the flames, he could only think about her, about the regrets he would have had if he had died in that basement, about the man he could have been for her. He had thought about how that hate she had had for him at the beginning had turned into friendship. When had he fallen for her?

Jenna took a few minutes to process everything and then she remembered that this was no answer to her question. It was plain to see that Damon had feelings for Elena and, dislike it as she might, that Elena shared these feelings.

"_Look, Damon. I knew there was something going on with you and Elena when I spotted the two of you kissing on the porch."_

"_Except it was not Elena," he said bitterly. "She got me good. What you saw was Katherine's spectacular return."_

Yes, Elena looked exactly like Katherine. Yes, they both made that cute teasing face when they argued. Yes, his signature smirk made them both roll their eyes and smile at the same time. But he had never seen Katherine blush at a compliment. He had never heard her heart race when he would enter the room. He could _feel_ Elena. He could smell her shampoo everywhere in the house long after she left. He heard her smile when he would make a cocky joke. He could feel her skin go on fire when he would touch her, sometimes. He should have known that he was not with the right one.

When he had thought he was kissing Elena that night on the porch, he had had forgotten about Katherine and Stefan and Bonnie and the Council. Everything. Of course, it had been too good to be true. _"He kissed Katherine, not me. I would never do that." _Elena had this way to say things that always got to him and he continually cursed himself for not having toughened around her. She had made him let down his guard, she had broken down his walls, one by one. She had made him believe that what they had been doing made sense. When he had gone to see her after Katherine had confessed her love for Stefan, he had forced a kiss on her.

"_How did she react?" Jenna asked as if she were catching up on a TV show._

"_She said 'I care about you. But I love Stefan. It's always gonna be Stefan'. Does that ring a bell?"_

"_Oh, Damon…"_

Jenna frowned when Damon started to pace around the room. All of a sudden, he looked very agitated. Disturbed, upset, crushed. He looked like he was losing his mind. She considered getting up to hold him. She had noticed that he would calm down quickly when she touched him. He clearly wasn't used to getting tenderness and even if he told everybody that he didn't need it, she had noticed how his breath had become steady and peaceful when she had fallen asleep in his arms. So she got to her feet, stood in front of him and took both his hands. He reminded her of a lost little boy for one second.

"_Maybe it was all planned from the start. Maybe doppelgangers have some twisted telepathic connection, like twins. Maybe that's why Elena is so like Katherine and maybe I have a tendency to fall for this kind of girls. Fragile and innocent on the surface, so that I can feel strong. Who love someone else but who have me hoping. Who are cruel and manipulative and who crush me."_

Saying it out loud, he realized how pathetic the situation was. That been said, as things were, maybe he had deserved the contempt with which she acted towards him. Breaking her brother's neck was not in the Bible-of-the-womanizer-who-wants-to-steal-his-brother's-girl-for-the-second-time. He did not share this thought with Jenna: he didn't want to risk losing this precious support and he didn't wanna have to compel her to erase the anger that this piece of information would create in her. Damon wanted it to be real, every second of it.

_She has to eat, she must be starving right now. _He headed to the kitchen, remaining silent to hide that his voice was shaking. Of course, he'd rather die than admitting this, but Elena Gilbert had made him get over Katherine Pierce. Which led to problem n°3: Stefan. But he wasn't strong enough to think about his brother. Not right now.


	5. The Turning Point

**Hello everyone !**

**I am so glad that there are still so many of you reading this. I wish every reader would take the time to tell me what their favorite line in the chaper is. I would be funny to know.**

**Anyway, this chapter was named after 1x10. **

**Reviews are love. If you love this, please let me know !**

**- M. - **

* * *

_The Turning Point_

For the second time, Damon woke up smelling Jenna's scent. This time, she was here, observing him. He was not in the mood for sensitive topics anymore. He wanted to be irresponsible and impulsive again. The last two days had exhausted him. So as to let Jenna know that, he held her back when she tried to get up. She threw a questioning look at him. He closed an imaginary zipper on his lips and drew her closer. When he saw she was giving in, he smiled and closed his eyes. However, she spoke a few seconds later. Her voice was so low that he wouldn't have heard it if he was human.

"_I have to go home today."_

"_I know."_

"_Are you going to…"_

"_Yes."_

"_Damon!"_

"_Jenna. You will remember nothing."_

This idea ripped his heart to pieces. She was to go home and he was to erase any memory she could have had of the moments they had spent together. She was to forget and he was to remember those silly fights, those laughs, this tenderness between them. He was to destroy the only stable and balanced relationship that he had.

They woke up in the middle of the afternoon. Of course, they were both already nostalgic about this unexpected bond that united them. As far as Jenna was concerned, this showed through lingering stares, sneaky caresses (with no ulterior motives) and as much hugging; as if, after she left him, her senses could give her a little reminder of what her mind would not allow her to access: "her" Damon, the Damon she was the only one to know in Mystic Falls. Their conversations had brought a lot of comfort to him, but they had brought a lot to her, too.

She understood Damon more than he knew. Of course, she wasn't involved in a one-century-and-a-half-long romance with a vampire. But she had not been second best with him, like she had been for Elena and Jeremy's education. She had not come after one hell of a woman, like she had with Rick. For the first time since her sister passed away, she had been someone's first choice and that someone was totally honest with her, that someone trusted her. It was priceless to her and she didn't want it to stop. She contemplated finding some vervain and ingesting it to resist his compulsion. She would fake being compelled and would go home with a head full of memories. But she couldn't find any anywhere. Obviously. She was staying at vampires'.

So she decided to make the most of the time she had left and she asked him about Stefan. When she had analyzed the situation, she had understood that Damon loved his brother and that he needed him even if he would never admit it. They had just brought a little normality to their relationship and who knows? Maybe they could be brothers again, like before, sometime soon. Why else would Damon stay in Mystic Falls, boring little town where he couldn't even feed how he pleased and where the two women of his undead life put him through hell?

"_Yes, I love him. He's my brother. I have to protect him, you know?"_

"_Stefan's a big boy. He can take care of himself, don't you think?"_

"_He's not strong enough to take Katherine."_

"_She will never hurt him and you know very well why."_

"_Then she'll hurt Elena." _When he saw the look on Jenna's face, he eased up. _"I have to protect her too."_

Jenna went to him and fell in his arms. For once, it was his turn to give her some tenderness. He whispered _"I will protect her, Jenna. And I will protect you."_ Jenna understood that he would do anything that would be necessary to protect them. Anything. She relaxed. "_Thank you, Damon."_

* * *

She chose a lighter matter to discuss then, using the memory device he said he had in his head.

"_Do you miss being human?"_

"_There's not much to save in my 'Human Life' file."_

"_Don't you miss anything about it?"_

"_Well, there's this one thing" he said, waving his eyebrows suggestively at her. _

"_I thought your body functioned pretty normally?" she said, looking down to his pants._

"_Jenna Sommers, I cannot believe you're being so naughty. But, since you ask, my "body" (he gestured to his fly) functions perfectly."_

"_If that's your story." She laughed when she saw she had hurt his pride._

"_Even better, I don't need air, my muscles are as strong as steel and I recover ten to fifteen times faster than a human like your history teacher for example. I am the ultimate lover."_

He pinned her to the wall just like he had the day before, except with much more softness. _"See for yourself". _Jenna sighed internally. He was shutting her out. She knew him enough to know that the seduction and the sexual innuendos were nothing but a defensive system. She also knew that he had no intentions of kissing her, contrary to what one might think seeing his lips inches away from hers. She smiled and took her velvet voice to beg him : "_Oh don't tempt me, Salvatore!"_. He took the offense with a smile, she pushed him away and he resumed right where she had interrupted him.

"_I don't feel temperatures. That, I miss."_

"_This is why you show off wearing only a shirt anytime of the year. If you don't get cold, why the leather jacket?"_

"_Style, baby."_

"_So you're never hot?"_

"_I tried to imagine the heat of your body all night long, but whether your hands are hot or freaking cold, they always feel the same on me."_

Except for that, Damon scorned his human years as much as Stefan missed them. When his heart was still beating, it was only to be broken. He had worshipped his mother and he had lost her way too soon. He had loved his brother more than anything and jealousy had destroyed them. He had done all he could to earn his father's approval and he had been shot in the back. He had loved Katherine with all his soul and it had turned him into a creature of darkness. What was there to miss?

"_On the other hand, I've been able to do some cool things since I became a vampire!"_

He had just started to show off about said cool things (his rapidity, his dexterity blah blah blah) to amuse Jenna when he picked up the noise of some engine. He had been so busy playing supervampire that he hadn't heard Stefan and Elena come back from their so-called honeymoon. He started panicking and placed his hands on Jenna's shoulders a little more roughly than he had meant to. She started freaking out, too.

"_You're not gonna bite me, are you?"_

"_Of course not," he whispered, touching her hair. _

He took a deep breath and focused. His aquamarine eyes looked into Jenna's and he let his irises dilate. He didn't have much time left, one minute, tops. Using all his willpower, he spoke slowly.

"_If anyone asks where you were the last three days, you will say that you…had an appointment for your thesis in Atlanta. Do you understand?"_

"_I understand. I had to go to Atlanta."_

"_Now, you're going to put back your bracelet full of vervain, get out through the back door and go home through the woods. Hurry!"_

Jenna nodded, her eyes empty. Damon gave her back the bracelet he had stolen a few days ago, picked up her stuff in half a second and led her to the back door. He had barely closed it when Stefan and Elena closed the front door. Damon inhaled deeply and gave them the usual smirk. He had just got rid of a weight by saying out loud everything he had told Jenna. He thought it would have helped, he thought that he would be better, that he would _feel_ less. But when his eyes fell on the happy couple's entwined fingers, he understood that all of this had been perfectly useless. Worse, he had accepted his vulnerability and the emotional walls he usually hid behind refused to protect him. He nodded at them and headed to his favorite chair. He hadn't enough strength left to say a word. He had talked too much in the last three days, way too much.

"_I hope we're not interrupting?" Stefan asked when he saw the mess there was in the room._

"_A sorority girl from Duke kept me company while you guys were away."_

"_Oh please, Damon," Elena said. "Be honest for once. Did you feed on her?"_

"_Oh please, __**Elena**__," Damon shot back at her with the same contemptuous tone. "To be honest, I have __**a lot **__of other needs."_

Stefan let out an exasperated sigh. If one thing made him more upset that Damon, it would be the everlasting fights he had with Elena. He would find himself caught in the middle, listening to their pointless fights. Elena would hold his being completely unscrupulous against him and he would flirt more or less indignantly with her. Even if he didn't mean to, Stefan laughed silently. Damon always had the last word when he went flirtatious. Stefan could perfectly see the physical attraction between his girlfriend and his brother and even if it pained him, he understood it. But Elena, on the other hand, would not admit it and she was more than on edge every time Damon brought the conversation to that. As if she wanted to confirm this thought, Stefan heard the young lady mumble.

"_Stefan, I'm going home."_

"_Okay. I'll call you later._

"_You're not…driving me back?"_

"_I need to talk to him."_

Elena hesitated and Damon could sense the tension in the room. He could also sense very clearly that he had nothing to do with it. A few seconds later, he heard the familiar noise of Elena's car going off the driveway. As he was going to relax, he found himself with his back against the wall, with Stefan's hands around his neck. It took him a few minutes to recover from the surprise and Damon cursed himself when his brother held out Jenna's scarf under his nose and screamed "_What did you do to her?"_ He pushed his brother away and readjusted his shirt. Then, with all the arrogance he was capable of, he simply said: "_I did what you told me. I got myself a diary."_

* * *

Katherine had followed Stefan and Elena out of town. Clever, but predictable. Stefan was no threat to her. Vervain was like tea and Bonnie's powers were harmless. The only resistance was Damon. His thirst for revenge, his 100% human blood diet and the violence he was capable of when he was angry. So she had waited for them to get away from him. Damon couldn't understand how Stefan and Elena had thought that this excuse for a breakup could have fooled Katherine. Getting her upset was one thing; thinking she was stupid was worse. Now, she was furious. That was no good. She had always had everything she wanted in the blink of an eye; Stefan's stubbornness and Elena's recklessness must have had her irritated as could be. She had declared war on them and threatened her doppelganger. Back in 1864, Katherine was fascinated by the Salvatore brothers. She had used her charms to seduce them, one after the other. Now, she was obsessed with Elena and would do anything to get to her. She had replaced one obsession by another and she wouldn't stop until she was completely satisfied.

Damon was enraged. His internal USB device could not remember the last time he had been so pissed. Three days out of town for the lovers? Yeah, right. It was SO like Stefan to be the hero and go looking for the Big Evil Bitch without telling anyone. But taking Elena with him? What had he been thinking? Elena could have been hurt, kidnapped, killed maybe! If there was one thing that Damon trusted Stefan about, it was protecting Elena. This trust allowed him to keep it together. He told himself that even if he left, even if he never was the one she chooses, she would always have Stefan to keep her safe and sound. And now, this didn't even mean something anymore. He felt helpless. And he didn't do helpless. They had a sword of Damocles above their heads and now that he knew about it, he needed to regain control of the situation. He remembered the promise he had made to Jenna and came up with a last minute plan. There were at least half a dozen reasons why this plan was not a good idea but they didn't have any more time to think. Even though he had hesitated a lot, Stefan finally agreed to do as his elder brother had said, given himself had no better idea.

When the Salvatore brothers arrived at the Gilberts', they found Elena and her aunt waiting for them. They exchanged puzzled looks but nothing showed on their faces. Damon fought the urge to take Jenna in his arms to comfort her when he saw the fear on her face. What was going on? Did Katherine stop by before they did? He regained composure and tried his best to look careless.

"_Good evening, Jenna. It's been a while since we last bumped into each other. I…"_

"_You promised me, Damon! Now's the time to keep your word."_

"_I beg your pardon?" he chocked when he understood what was going on._

"_You never asked me to forget."_


	6. You're Undead To Me

**Hello everyone ! **

** I hadn't written any good fiction in a long while before "Dear Jenna" came out of nowhere and your response has been overwhelming. So THANK YOU all. To those of you who started reading the first chapter and gave up on the story because you thought it wasn't good enough, I promise I will make it up to you one day. To those of you who read all of it but didn't like it enough to review, I am going to work harder so you want to say "Well done". To those of you whose names appear on my BlackBerry every time you review ... you have no idea what that means, I solemnly swear that I will do everything I can to produce some more good stuff for you guys.**

**This chapter was named after 1x05. This is your last chance ... Show me love and review !**

**See you soon, readers !**

**- M. - **

* * *

_You're Undead To Me_

Damon was speechless. He was torn between relief and anger. He was relieved to know that what they had would remain real (because, yes, Jenna had put back her bracelet and drunk cups and cups and more cups of vervain as soon as she had got home). He was relieved because from then on, he could turn to her when he couldn't bear being alone anymore. But he was angry because his need for affection had led him to making a huge mistake that Elena and Stefan would probably hold out against him for years. If Jenna didn't know about anything, it was to protect her, he could see that now. Bold like she was, he wouldn't be surprised if she stood up to Katherine on her own. Because Jenna was the girl who willingly threw herself in front of a bullet for her family. In front of a bullet or in front of a vampire's fangs. He'd have to discuss this with her at some point. Very seriously. Because it was absolutely out of the question for him to lose her.

Anyway, the present situation was kind of tricky. Stefan and Damon had arrived at the Gilberts' with a very precise idea in mind. They had to take a risk, but they had to act quickly. To protect Elena from her evil twin, Damon had decided it would be wise to introduce an important amount of vampire blood in her system. Like some preventive non-turn. Of course, even if he was reluctant to this idea, Stefan had agreed to do it himself. This was of course when Jenna wasn't involved and when she hadn't shared secrets with Elena. She remembered that Stefan had issues with human blood. If he took too much, Elena could die. Or he could become an even bigger threat than Katherine. She also remembered that the relationship between a mortal and their Sire was exceptional. She also remembered Damon's emotion when he talked about Elena. Yes, she remembered all of it and she had told her niece right away. Which had led to Elena saying "_I want Damon to do it."_

"_This way, we don't put Stefan in danger," Jenna insisted. "And Damon won't be Elena's Sire because I trust you two will keep my niece alive. This is just a precaution, right?"_

"_It is, indeed," Stefan whispered. "Damon will do it. Won't you, Damon?"_

"_A deal's a deal," Damon said to Jenna before he asked her to leave the room. _

Jenna left the three of them alone and Stefan hesitated: had he better leave too or stay by Elena's side? He could hear her heart race, he could hear her breath coming out ragged, he could see her shaking hands. He knew she was scared. She and Damon had been silently standing in front of each other for at least five minutes and Stefan made his decision when they finally spoke. _"Is it going to hurt a lot?"_ Damon looked questioningly at his brother and Stefan nodded, allowing him to do whatever it took for her not to feel pain. _It is just a precaution, he won't be her Sire, she won't turn_, the youngest Salvatore kept telling himself. He kissed her on the forehead. As he left the room, he heard Damon say _"Not if you don't want to, Elena." _Elena understood. Jenna had told her about when Katherine bit Damon. She knew exactly how he was going to make her not feel pain. She smiled and held out her hand to him.

* * *

Damon knew perfectly well that Stefan was right behind the door listening to them. But he had to protect her, he had promised. He knew that every time he made Elena moan, he stabbed Stefan with a vervain-laced stake. He also knew that the intensity of what he was feeling would mean nothing once he'd have exchanged blood with Elena. He knew damn well that she would deny letting go in his arms. What he did not know was that Katherine had been watching them for a few seconds, perched on tree somewhere near.

Katherine Pierce hated it when she didn't understand. And seeing Damon and Elena deep within each other, she didn't understand. Damon was supposed to mourn her for a few more months. Didn't she matter to him at all for him to replace her so quickly? With this Elena girl, no less. Why would Stefan let this happen? Did he know? She saw Damon and Elena get dressed and an awkward silence fall on the room. From where she stood, Katherine saw blood on the pillow. So Damon had got carried away and bitten Elena. Before she could decide what she would do with this piece of info, Stefan entered the room, brooding as ever. So he knew. There, in front of her eyes was a fully consenting love triangle.

Searching through her jacket's pocket, Katherine held out a gun, aimed and shot three times. Elena Gilbert was taking her place in the middle of the Salvatore brothers. She wouldn't allow it.

* * *

When she saw Elena's corpse moving on the bed, Katherine jumped a little, taken aback. She saw her doppelganger sit and listened attentively: no heartbeat. Katherine smiled. Watching Elena die wasn't enough. Now that she was a vampire, Stefan would have to watch her kill people until the end of time, torn between his love for her and the hatred her crimes would provoke in him.

But when she saw Elena frown, Katherine stopped talking to herself and chuckled. From where she was standing, she could see something that Stefan could not. What a sweet, delightful revenge! She was going to have so much fun watching them destroy themselves. So as to confirm her intuition, the first word that came out of Mystic Falls' newest vampire was: _"Damon!"_


End file.
